SAM FRANCIS

Action-packed, gestural, full of drips and motion and the movement of paint across the canvas, Sam Francis’s (GZ123) eponymous collaboration with Swatch is an action painting on the wrist. The bold dial is a deep crimson with a saturated blue field of colour floating over black. The hands are red as well, and the strap features black shapes, aquamarine pools and red, yellow, blue and green splashes. Full of the presence of the artist’s hand and the evidence of time, one can almost feel the painting taking place on one’s wrist. Flexible and plastic with moments of transparency, this work is a true Art Special—special art in the form of a watch.

Gent

Sam Francis

American artist Sam Francis was born in California in 1923 and began to paint while convalescing from a war injury. He was interested in “not just the play of light, but the substance of which light is made”. Famous for his large, bright, and expressive paintings, Francis is also
known for his lithographs, etchings and monotypes. His work references abstract expressionism, colour field painting and French impressionism as well as Chinese and Japanese art. He maintained studios in Bern, New York, Los Angeles, Paris and Tokyo.